5.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
A look at the life of an aging insult comic.
Starring: Robert De Niro, Leslie Mann, Danny DeVito, Cloris Leachman, Harvey KeitelComedy | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
There's a certain art to being a kind of "Don Rickles"-esque comic, one who delights in engaging in a sort of contentious relationship with his or her audience. Case in point: my wife, who works as a standup comedian, opened a show for an older guy who reminded me of the sorts of Borscht Belt comedians you might see as supporting characters in something like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and he spent a lot of his routine just basically ranting and raving at everyone and everything, often out and out hilariously in my not so humble opinion. However, the funniest moment to yours truly came when some drunken lout in the audience started screaming at the comedian. Suddenly, his entire demeanor changed, and instead of an apopleptic "Lewis Black" type, he became a completely "concerned", even fawning, sort as he turned to the audience member and stated in a kind, grandfatherly tone, "I'm sorry, sir, are you new to heckling?", continuing on to give this now totally cowed guy in the audience some advice on how to properly do his "job". The Comedian charts a somewhat perilous course for a comic much like the guy I've just described, in this case a former television star named Jackie Burke (Robert De Niro), who has probably seen better days both personally and professionally, but whose contentious personality actually ends up getting him in some legal trouble.
The Comedian is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics' line of BD-Rs, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Despite this not being a "pressed" disc, I noticed no real quality problems here. The imagery is typically sharp and well defined, with nice levels of fine detail and an accurate rendering of the palette. I wasn't able to track down any authoritative technical data on the shoot, but this looks digitally captured and I'm assuming things were finished at a 2K DI. The film was shot by the fantastic British cinematographer Oliver Stapleton, and he lights the club scenes in particular rather nicely. There are some occasional downturns in detail levels in a few establishing shots, some of which are aerials, where I'm assuming perhaps lower resolution cameras on drones may have been utilized.
The Comedian features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which derives some energy from some of the performance scenes, where elements like background clatter can spill into the side and rear channels. The urban setting also provides opportunity for realistically placed ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free track.
The Comedian was co-written by Jeffrey Ross, a name which will be recognized by those who like the Comedy Central Roasts of various performers (and one of those turns up in this very film). Ross might have done better to have simply made a standup film about himself, as some of this outing comes off as overly pretentious. There's also a somewhat uneasy mix between the rom-com aspects and a kind of more elegiac tone that attempts to deal with a character who may be past his prime. Technical merits are generally solid for those considering a purchase.
(Still not reliable for this title)
2017
2017
1985
Warner Archive Collection
1985
2017
2016
2015
2014
2008
2014
2013
2017
Fox Studio Classics
1969
2020
2018
2017
2016
2015
1970
1985